My girlfriend is bulimic, and I want to help her.

I don't know how else to start, but my girlfriend is bulimic, and I want to help her. She is a wonderful person with terrible self esteem, she's had the eating disorder for close to a year now, and she's had bouts of bulimia earlier in her life. I want to help her, but she cites me as a cause of the disorder, and several past incidents will back up her accusations. She doesn't want my help which makes me feel horrible, she has confided having the ED with several other people, and none of them have taken up much interest in helping her. I know she feels alone in it, body image has always been a huge problem for her, and I know she finds comfort in the ED as well as the weight she has lost. She hurts herself from it, and hates how it feels, but she continues to do it. She's had a long history of people making her feel bad about her weight, including her family, so I know these issues are buried very deep within her, and I don't know what I can do to help her, when she won't let me help.

Please, if anyone has any advise or knows of any good resources, I'd love to see them.

Hello! Welcome to the forums and thank you for your post!! I hope that I can be of some help!!

Sorry to hear that your significant other is battling some ED related issues. I think it is amazing that you are so supportive and have actively searched for ways to help!

NEDA offers a couple of great resources that would really help you understand more about the situation and potentially help your significant other seek treatment.

First, here is a link to a NEDA Toolkit. It is a great resource that helps educate people such as yourself how to discuss these difficult issues with the person as well as how best to be supportive during this process.

If at any time it is decided that your significant other would like to seek counseling, the NEDA Helpline can help you discover therapists and doctors in your area that will give proper treatment and consideration for patients with ED's! All you would need to do is call 1-800-931-2237 and a representative would be there to help!

Lastly, I think that the NEDA Navigator program would be a great resource for you to access. The Navigator program is designed to connect you with a volunteer who has experience in recovery. He/she can help give support and advice regarding how to address questions or discussions that arise, how best to approach subjects, and how best to give support! Plus this form of advice is completely free and confidential! If you'd like to learn more, here is a great link!